Zoology, Paleontology
Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan grew up near Pretoria during the height of the apartheid years. Pursuing a university career at a historically white university was no easy task. She nevertheless completed her degrees from B.Sc. to PhD. at the Zoology department and the Bernard Price Institute of Palaeontology of the University of the Witwatersrand, in record time; with a higher diploma in Education “sandwiched” in between at the University of Durban-Westville. Anusuya was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and until recently held joint positions as a professor at the University of Cape Town’s Zoology Department and a specialist scientist at the South African Museum. Presently she is the director of the Natural History collection of the Iziko Museums of Cape Town. Anusuya is highly respected world-wide for her work on microstructures of bones and teeth of dinosaurs and fossil birds; and is fascinated by the lives they led, and in finding new ways to engage with adults and children about her work. Anusuya was awarded the Shoprite Checkers/SABC ‘woman of the year’, and the RSA Department S&T ‘distinguished woman scientist’ awards in 2005.
Contact: CHINSAMY-TURAN Anusuya